Do I really need to break this down for you? Can you name even one thing that either MS or Sony added to the industry when it comes controllers? Whether it's Sony's SNES designed 'Dual Shock' or MS's Dreamcast/GCN style, I see nothing happening that makes me think either one of them would be capable of broadening the imagination of developers - I get the impression they'd be content with recylcing the same controller every generation albeit with faster hardware. And that's something that really could kill an industry...

While I agree that perhaps johnlucas' view is a bit overstated when he claims the entire industry would die without Nintendo, it certainly does bring up a valid consideration. Let's, for the moment, stick to hardware creativity because, even though it's the games that make or break a system, it's the hardware the games are run on that even gives them a chance. With that in mind, let's just narrow the focus to controllers (since they are the main I/O that all users are required to use) and who's doing what in this area.

Do I really need to break this down for you? Can you name even one thing that either MS or Sony added to the industry when it comes controllers? Whether it's Sony's SNES designed 'Dual Shock' or MS's Dreamcast/GCN style, I see nothing happening that makes me think either one of them would be capable of broadening the imagination of developers - I get the impression they'd be content with recylcing the same controller every generation albeit with faster hardware. And that's something that really could kill an industry...

Nintendo is not the Holy Grail and it is not God.

The folks who make the video game industry great aren't the console manufacturers; it's the video game developers of which Nintendo is only one of, if one of the oldest/most successful ones.

Nintendo has done a lot of innovative things in the past but I don't think they have a monopoly on creativity. It's not as if only Nintendo can be creative and it's a mistake to think that. Though I will say that Sega, the way it was back in the Genesis/SNES era, felt far more creative than the entirety of the MS-xbox division and Sony put together.

I think very highly of Nintendo and its accomplishments, but one can't be objective while wearing a fanboy T-Shirt. It's sad so many people are wearing them...

Challenge me on that.

Somebody has to make the hardware. Why haven't any of these 3rd parties gone into business for themselves making hardware AND software. You must have both. I'm not saying ONLY Nintendo contributes to the world of gaming but if not for them those other guys wouldn't be on the map!

See I'm 31. I remember the world BEFORE Nintendo. While I didn't know all of the details of what was going on at the time, reading that era of history we had toy companies, tech companies, and cereal companies even trying their hand in this business either on the software or hardware side or both.

And NONE of them could stop that industry from imploding on itself. None. All of 'em got shaken out of this game and went back to doing their regular thing or going out of business.

Get ready. This is gonna be long. You know how I do.

Atari began the BUSINESS of digital electronic gaming in 1971 with PONG Arcade. Digi-electronic gaming had long been established and had mutliple implementations but as a business it was started by Nolan Bushnell's Atari.

Ralph Baer began the formation of HOME CONSOLE GAMING AKA Videogaming or gaming on a television screen in the comfort of your own home. He put together this plan in the late 60's and hustled his way around until he got TV company Magnavox to sponsor his Odyssey in 1972.

The three main fronts of digital electronic gaming were now established: Computer gaming, Arcade gaming, and Video gaming. Computer gaming had already been going on since a decade back in the 60's but it took awhile before people made this full-fledged business. It was more share with those in the know back then. MIT nerds and college campuses. This spirit still exists in computer gaming today. It is always more of a wildwest atmosphere where the rules are looser because of the people involved...those who know how to program.

Arcade gaming is the pay-to-play model based on skill with a giant machine in a public setting. This has all but died in the USA thanks to videogaming's 6th generation of consoles and basically remains alive in Japan now in various wacky forms. Arcades serve to offer an unique experience unable to capture in a home setting under either computer or console gaming.

Videogaming through Baer's Odyssey was begun but failed shortly after entering the market due to newness among other factors (confusion over what TV set the console could play under). It hung around for a couple of years and then Atari moved on into the console arena resurrecting the console business with its Sears sponsored home PONG console in 1975. Baer and Atari were at odds over PONG legally and Atari's success with home PONG created an influx of copycatters since these early 70s gaming business experiences looked profitable.

Transitioning company Coleco got into the PONG act along with an assload of other wannabes causing the 1977 Crash (See what happens when you get too much familiarity between systems?). The cloning companies exited the biz leaving innovating companies like Fairchild in 1976 with their catridge-changeable Channel F (once known as the VES, Video Entertainment System) to cause the survivors to up their game making Atari create what would be known as the Atari 2600 (then just called the Atari VCS, Video Computer System). Channel F followed the originator's (Odyssey's) vision for interchangeable cartridges to play instead of dedicated games in one console. Atari matched this and Channel F's control with the joystick and hit it big creating game fans overnight and repairing the damage from the 1977 Crash.

Meanwhile in Japan the gaming craze had affected them too. Various Japanese companies trying their hand at arcade design while the Magnavox Odyssey sought transitioning company Nintendo for distribution of that console there. Nintendo would create their own PONG clone (plus more) with 1977's Color TV Game series of consoles bringing homegrown videogaming to Japan for the first time. A taste of this growing business would soon change gaming's direction forever.

Apple II with Steve Wozniak working with his buddy Steve Jobs at Atari on what would become Breakout later brought gaming elements into home computer design making personal computers take off as a business. A move that eventually would threaten console gaming's future.

So it's the late 70's and you got about a decade of gaming as a business in your pocket. The PONG clones have run their course and digital electronic gaming is making it worldwide (where rampant poverty and famine are not present anyway). Atari 2600 is where most game fans first became game fans due to its popularity and vivid colors (not to mention its woodgrain finish). The Star Wars movies and the decades of spacetravel lore has us prepped for futuristic things. Ralph Baer has his revenge with 1978's Odyssey 2 merging computer elements with game console design with the full-fledged keyboard attachment. Toy company Mattel try their hand at this rapidly expanding business with the HIGHLY innovative Intellivision of 1979/1980, videogaming's 1st 16-bit system.

The bridging between Japan and USA was going on in the arcades, this is what happens when you name your company (Atari) after a Japanese word. 1978's Space Invaders from Japan's Taito was a monster hit and putting it on Atari 2600 was the only thing the now Warner Communications-ran company did right (Nolan left at end of decade due to merging interests with this big corp going into other public venue ventures like Chuck E. Cheese). Japanese gaming and American gaming were pulling out all the stops and then here comes Japan's Namco with a megaton...1980's Pac-Man. All kinds of classics were being produced by innovatives on both sides of the Pacific.

Meanwhile Nintendo emboldened by its moderate success with the Color TV Game was about to embark on their new direction as a videogaming company creating the handheld business with Game & Watch in 1980. Focusing on Japan's on-the-go commuting culture they figured a compact playing device would be perfect. A pure smash in Japan which set the stage to come across that water to make the really big money in honeyland AKA USA. Hello Donkey Kong in 1981.

The new Warner ran Atari resulted in the formation of the independent developers or 3rd parties. 1st is hardware maker, 2nd is employed software maker, 3rd is renegage software maker. These ex-Ataris became Activision which set the stage for artist recognition creatively and financially inspiring Trip Hawkins to make EA in the same light.

Three fronts: Computer, Arcade, Video were running full steam and videogaming was the thing in the 1980's. A new pastime for a futuristic world. Organizations like Twin Galaxies (see The King of Kong) and movies like 1982's Tron heralded this new kingdom. Atari made themselves standard makers with Intellivision as the alternative design. New companies jumped into the biz following one or both of their examples to varying degrees. Sega's 1st 1981/1983 system the SG-1000 mirrored Atari's direction with the new 5200 while Colecovision mirrored Intellivision's.

Everybody and their daddy was trying to make games or game systems so much so it was getting hard to keep up with 'em all. Atari now run by soulless execs who didn't understand gaming got greedy and started trying to forcefeed crap games to the public to get quick dollars. We had Quaker Oats of all companies start up their own gaming business called US Games. More crap. In 1983 the business seemed to be riding high. Gameworld was the cover story in Time magazine and everything. And then....WHEEEEEEW *CRRKKKSSSSHHHHKKKK*

It came to dead halt. Almost a decade and a half of build-up just stopped dead in its tracks. Michaelmania was running wild (along with Hulkamania) and all of a sudden nobody wanted to play videogames anymore. Nobody wanted to buy them anymore despite the lowest of discounts and markdowns. Retailers were PISSED! No more fads for me said Toys R Us of all companies. Customers said why buy these convoluted consoles and games when I can get a computer that does all that AND other more important stuff. It's good for my kids' education anyway. Computer world of gamers always said those consoles and arcades were a fad. Computer gaming was where it was at, right Commodore? Right Amiga. All of those companies just got shaken out of the mix save for a very few. Even Atari was going to make home computers for gaming with the Atari ST. They were trying to be everything BUT a gaming company by this point dabbling in telecommunications/phones and such. Near-bankruptcy'll do that ya, ya know.

Apocalypse for the Videogaming front and to some extent the Arcade front (why pay yo play when I can play at home?). Only a few survived like Activision & EA who went to make more for home computer, those various arcade devs (mostly from Japan), and this budding little game company called Nintendo.

Nintendo had built its name over the first half of the 1980's in USA with its Game & Watches, arcade hits like Donkey Kong and others, and the various home console versions (of varying qualities) on the big systems of the time. They made their first non-dedicated console with the Famicom in 1983 and after a slight bumpy start blew out big success in Japan like with Game & Watch. Wanting to bring their stuff stateside they wanted Atari's help to distribute but a tradeshow misunderstanding (what's Donkey Kong doing on that Colecovision, Nintendo?) and a market crash made sure that mistake didn't happen. So this near 100 year old company was all alone in a market that said this industry was dead.

Hustle, faith, and convincing that this was another of the old kind made sure that Nintendo would make an impact in USA. R.O.B. a robot? Cool! He didn't work. He was part of the strategy. A new era needed to begin. So much wildness from the recent past. Crappy consoles, crappy games, flood of crap on the market. We need a Seal of Quality. We need to assure the retailers and customers that were are not like the old kind. Change the name of that system for the USA folks. Famicom wasn't gonna work but Advanced Video System wasn't either. Entertainment is the name of the game. Hey and look that design. It looks too much like the old kind. Make it front loading. Make it two shades of gray & black. Let's not be wasteful like these others. These old companies had no discipline. You must make a profit if you are to stay in business bottom line.

Let's go to this 1985 Consumer Electronic Show and see what we can do. Faith that this newcomer was gonna do them right allowed game consoles to be sold in USA stores again for customers to buy. An industry invented in America was eventually becoming a Japanese industry. Karma of WWII? The system slowly took off and videogaming breathed a new life. Sega who followed the old industry leader now followed the new industry leader controlwise as always with its SG-1000 Mark III AKA the Sega Master System in 1986. With renewed confidence that this business can thrive they went out to the markets of Europe and South America and others to make their name. Atari the originator was shocked and tried to get back in with their Atari 7800 which copied the new Famicom/NES controller standard. Too little too late. A new generation was emerging and now they were playing with power. Atari did its best to derail the NES's success in legal fights which weakened its spread to some territories (Europe) and subverting the new rules Nintendo put gaming industry in (Tengen).

With NES as the boss the NEW 3rd party came into existence. Japanese hands like Capcom, Konami (who played in the home computer field), and Square became the prominent developers of the day and the crossover between Japanese arcades and home console made certain the industry was Japanese forever. Only the computer world remained "Western" with its orcs, wizards, and marines with big guns.

From this Nintendo became the gold standard from which all other companies were measured. Game rental stores in the USA popped up overnight from the NES Revolution. The culture was being changed by Nintendo bringing Japanese influences into your living room. Western Otakus began (in number) here. What IS a tanooki anyway and why does it turn into a statue of all things? Who are all of these Japanese names I keep seeing? I better learn some Japanese. Many companies influenced by Nintendo's game design and console design. And newcomer after newcomer joined this biz trying to emulate and surpass the success Nintendo created. NEC with its powerful PC Engine/Turbografx 16. Sega trying to upstage the unshakeable Famicom/NES with a stronger Mega Drive/Genesis. "Hey this gaming thing might have some promise after all. Better tell the Sony board about this." says a younger Ken Kutaragi. Japan's SNK from the arcades with their NeoGeo? A little expensive perhaps.

Everybody trying to upstage the master kept the hardware power race going. This is where it came from. One-upsmanship. Nintendo made the first interchangeable catridge handheld console with the invincible Game Boy, furthering its sister-branch business model that has yet to be beaten. Everytime Nintendo came out they revolutionized the controls and the game design making everyone do their best to keep up which Sega did the best.

But no matter who all went against them eventually sooner or later everybody fell. The most powerful fell at the knees of this little old company time and time again. The only person to beat them was themselves by making harmful decisions that hampered their progress like pissing off and overcontrolling 3rd parties and of course Virtual Boy. The others only capitalized on their mistakes and moved forward but they were never in control. Pyrrhic Victories to win the title of King in the videogaming industry. Lossleading their way to destruction. Short-term win, long-term loss.

Arcades are now a limited range and computer gaming has shaped the gaming world over the decades by merging back into a field it once snubbed. EA's Trip Hawkins finally said console gaming was legit by making his 3DO in 1993 and when that failed they just published for the consoles of the day. Because of the cultural impact of the videogaming branch, gaming reached cell phones and other mobile devices, and a new computer style of gaming using flash and java that people tend to call 'casual'. Many companies giving their contributions to the marketing or technological building of the videogame industry since Nintendo came to prominence but only one survives as a hardware maker/software maker with profits to ensure the future of the industry and that is Nintendo.

Holy Grail. If Nintendo ain't it, I don't know who is.

Let's have this discussion again in 10 years and let's see who's still here making waves and who's gone from the scene.

John Lucas